Aaron realized how closely Count Piro was watching him. He was cool about it, winking at me when he could but pretending he wasn’t as aware. Because I had told Aaron what Dr. Patrick had advised, I hoped he wasn’t going to do or say anything that might disturb the boy, even in a small way. He knew that would upset my grandfather, too. I relaxed after the first few minutes. There was no reason to worry. Aaron was working everyone well. He was very smooth and convincing. He even complimented My Faith on the food, claiming she was better than the cook his parents had. Grandpa really liked that. Aaron was so good at handling everyone that I couldn’t help wondering if he was handling me in a similar way, saying things he knew would please me but in a way that suggested he had planned. I kept wondering if I was simply too trusting and naive.
Before the dinner ended, however, Aaron surprised me even more by showing real interest in the physical-therapy machinery.
“That’s a field that fascinates me,” he told Dorian. “Sports medicine, the whole thing. I’m thinking of pursuing it as a career.”
“That’s very smart, Aaron. It’s a growing field. If it’s all right with Mr. Arnold, I’d be happy to show you the therapy equipment,” she said, and looked at Grandpa.
“It’s all right,” he said. Then he peered at Aaron more like he peered at someone he didn’t believe. I held my breath. Aaron was putting it on too heavily. “Your dad’s not trying to get you to become part of his business, get you to go to business school?”
“Oh, he’s trying,” Aaron said with a smile. Dorian laughed. Count Piro’s face even brightened.
“I don’t blame him for it,” Grandpa said wistfully. I knew he was thinking about Uncle Bobby and how he had refused to have anything to do with Grandpa’s trucking company. “A man builds a business to support his family. He feels he has something he can pass on. It’s one of the reasons he works so hard at it. You keep that in mind, son,” he said. “What you can pass on to your children is what’s most important in this world.”
Aaron’s smile evaporated. He nodded and glanced at me.
Yes, I told him with my eyes, my grandpa is a tough man, and just being diplomatic isn’t going to get you there. Too many times, he’d told me that he had a built-in bullcrap meter. “It comes with the territory when you’re in business,” he said. I wanted to whisper to Aaron to stop trying so hard or to be less obvious about it. That could be worse.
After dinner, Grandpa went into the living room to read his Wall Street Journal while Dorian, pushing Count Piro, led Aaron and me to the room now dedicated to Count Piro’s physical therapy. I was impressed with just how much Aaron did know about the equipment and the areas of the body each device was meant to improve. Was he sincere about all this? Perhaps I was judging him too severely.
While he and Dorian talked about it, both Count Piro, who suddenly looked bored, and I felt as if we weren’t even there. Then Aaron turned to the boy and told him how confident he was that if he followed Mrs. Camden’s directions, he would get better and better.
“Maybe I’ll come here one day and work out with you,” Aaron said. “Would that be all right with you?”
Count Piro smiled and nodded. Aaron was making a bigger hit with him than either Dorian or I had. She looked at me and smiled.
“He works out when we’re in school,” I said.
“Oh, we can arrange a weekend or two,” Dorian quickly suggested.
“Perfect,” Aaron told her. “I have nothing better to do on my weekends.”
He made a fist and put it next to the boy’s hand. Count Piro looked at it and then made a fist, too, and Aaron gently pressed his to the boy’s. I saw how impressed Dorian was. She smiled her approval at me. This was going so well, but I couldn’t help being even more nervous just because it was.
Afterward, when we all joined Grandpa in the living room, Aaron surprised me again by volunteering to read a Superman comic with Count Piro after I had mentioned my earlier introduction. Grandpa looked up from what he was reading, pleased and surprised. He looked at me. It was obvious that Count Piro was very excited about it, so I ran up to Willie’s room and brought down a new Superman comic.
Aaron told Count Piro that Superman had always been one of his favorite comic characters. “When I was your age, I even had a Superman cape, and it gave me powers,” he added.
Count Piro’s eyes widened.
“Don’t we have one of those for him?” Grandpa asked me.
“I gave it to him,” I said, and Grandpa smiled.
Before the reading began, my grandfather told us about men he had met in his life who were extraordinarily strong. Of course, he bragged about Jimmy and the things he had seen him lift on our property. Aaron winked at me and turned back to Count Piro, telling him that the comic I had happened to bring was one of his favorites.
He’s really piling it on, I thought. Grandpa’s going to realize it and be very displeased. I anticipated him calling me into his office after Aaron had left to tell me he was just as he expected, a phony like his father.
For now, Dorian and my grandfather sat back and watched Aaron read, show the pictures, and describe the events with such enthusiasm it was as if he really believed there was a Superman. I could see from Dorian’s expression that she thought this evening was one of the best the boy had had since he was brought here to recuperate. Would my grandfather agree?
Finally, she decided it was time
for him to go to bed.
Count Piro hadn’t said anything until now, and no one had tried to draw anything out of him, but as Dorian began wheeling him out to the stair lift, he turned, still clinging to the comic book, and said, “Thank you,” to Aaron. He hadn’t said thank you to me like that. I looked from Aaron to Grandpa Arnold, who was smiling with the same sort of joy he had shown Willie whenever Willie had done something to please him. He looked at Aaron with respect and admiration, too.
Of everyone, I think I looked the most dumbfounded. Aaron had no younger brother and had never struck me as someone who enjoyed being around children, but Dr. Patrick had suspected that he could make better contact with Count Piro. And maybe not only because he was a boy. She must know more about the poisoned boy than she’s told me, perhaps. He’s revealed more, and she’s sharing that with only my grandfather and Dorian. This wasn’t the first time I suspected I was being kept in the dark. That wasn’t fair. I was just as much, if not more, a part of all this than Dorian. When I looked at Aaron, I even had the sense that he realized more than I did.
The suspicion and annoyance twisted into a small ball of rage that grew hotter and larger inside me. Right now, I felt like the only one who was not part of this.